


Numbers: A History

by hhertzof



Series: Looking for Home [14]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-15
Updated: 2010-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-07 07:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhertzof/pseuds/hhertzof
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Sarah Jane Smith's life, in twelve not-so-easy steps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Numbers: A History

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt community. The prompts give structure to the story

_L. Twelve steps_

It took twelve steps to get from Sarah's flat to Andrea's. They had counted once.

After Andrea's death, Sarah still had to walk past the flat to leave the building. Even after Mr. and Mrs. Yates moved away, she found it painful to take those steps.

By the time she went to Uni, she'd grown accustomed to keeping that pain inside where no one could see.

_K. Up to eleven (Spinal Tap)_

She had sold eleven articles when she entered the Think Tank pretending to be her aunt. She knew sooner or later she'd meet someone who knew she wasn't who she claimed to be, but she hoped she could gather the information for her next story before then.

She found much more than she bargained for.

_J. Ten commandments (for travelling in the TARDIS)_

1\. Run.  
2\. Stay close/don't wander off.  
3\. Expect the unexpected.  
4\. Don't expect to get where you're going.  
5\. Don't lecture everyone you meet about feminism. Just the ones who need a push.  
6\. Improvisation is good.  
7\. Don't give up.  
8\. Wear sensible shoes.  
9\. If you think the Doctor is dead, he probably isn't.  
10\. Try not to hit the Doctor, unless absolutely necessary.

_I. Nine lives_

He'd told her about regeneration once, after one of the many times she'd thought he was dead. It was supposed to be reassuring.

It took her a while to adjust, even with Harry as a buffer, but eventually they were as close as they had ever been and she wondered why she'd hesitated at all.

_H. Eight legs_

She still couldn't look at spiders without flinching. Heights had scared her since Andrea's death.

She wished she'd been able to save them both.

_G. Seven stages_

Before Andrea's death  
Between Andrea's death and meeting the Doctor  
Travelling with the Third Doctor  
Travelling with the Fourth Doctor  
Life on Caprica  
Life with the Fleet  
The Time War

_F. Six flags_

They followed the signs to Earth as if they were following a path marked with flags. She would go to one of the portals and stare at the stars, hoping for a familiar constellation. The last time she looked, before she was too weak to stand, she could have sworn she saw Kasterborous, but that might have just been the drugs.

_E. Five easy pieces_

At times she wondered if she were one of the last five Cylons. Though why they would have given her such elaborate false memories (and cancer) was beyond her.

_D. Four queens_

Queen Elizabeth  
The Queen of Peladon  
President Laura Roslin  
President Romanadvoratralundar

_C. Three kings_

The CIA held all the cards and as much as Laura resented the manipulation, she didn't have a choice. They had arranged for her to be left on Caprica and to get caught up in that war of attrition between the humans and Cylons. To learn the arts of war and diplomacy and how to fight when there was nothing left to fight for.

They had assassinated the original Laura Roslin, given Sarah cancer (and then cured it when it was convenient for them), made her a killer.

And now they needed her knowledge, her expertise in the fight against the Daleks. If she refused, what then? A tweak here, a tweak there and suddenly she would be agreeing. Hard to fight against people who controlled her past as well as her present.

So she agreed to fight for them.

_B. Two hearts_

Not that they would dirty their own hands with a member of a lesser species. Instead they dumped her in the Doctor's care.

He'd regenerated several times since she'd seen him last, but to her amusement he was wearing velvet again. He greeted her with a bright grin, but there were stress lines around his eyes.

Some nights she would lie in his arms with her head pressed against his chest, pretending to sleep and just listening to his two hearts beating in time.

_A. One life_

The time war changed things. It changed time...both her past and her future. Safe on Gallifrey, she retained her memories of her life on Caprica and with the fleet, but when she was sent out on missions, she could feel those other time lines whispering at the back of her mind. She wondered what would happen when the war was over, and she survived. Trying to go back to another Sarah's life and wondering what happened to the fleet if she wasn't there. Perhaps the original Laura Roslin survived to lead them to Earth. Perhaps she had been on Earth all along.

Would she remember, when the war ended, what she had seen and done, or would it fade into memory and dream, as she became the Sarah that the war created in its wake.

But if the war with the Cylons had taught her anything, it had taught her how to survive, even when all hope was lost. She would survive this war too and whatever came after.


End file.
